SEED

Seed

The plant is propagated largely through seed, though vegetative propagation is also possible.

Seed Selection

For seed collection, the crop is carefully examined, the off types as well as diseased ones are pulled out, and the selected fruits are allowed to ripen on the plant. The contents of the ripe fruits are squeezed out and fermented for 2–5 days. When the seeds settle down, they are dried in sun or shade and stored in airtight containers. Good tomato seeds remain viable for about four years and the germination is between 85–90 per cent.

Alternatively, lemon juice can be used for seed extraction in place of corrosive hydrochloric acid (which is commonly used). The seeds should be treated with the juice for 2–3 hours @ 20 lemons/kg of wet seeds. The seeds treated by this method are shiny and fetch good prices in the market.

Seeds can also be extracted from ripe fruits by squeezing the fruits on well-spread rice bran (@ 1 kg rice bran for 1 kg seed). After thorough mixing and drying for 24–48 hours, the bran is separated from the mixture by a hand winnower.

Seed Treatment

Seeds are soaked for six hours in a fermented mixture of buttermilk (3 days old) and water (1 : 4 ratio) and dried under the shade to remove excess moisture. The practice is applicable only for 6 to 12 month old seeds. Coconut or palmyra toddy can also be used as a substitute for buttermilk. The seeds can also be treated with sweet flag rhizome extract for 30 minutes before sowing. This confers resistance against a number of bacterial and fungal diseases.

The seeds can be mixed with Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens (@ 5 gm/100 gm of seeds). This will help in the control of early blight and other pathogens.

Seed rate : The seed rate for commercial tomato varieties is around 400–500 gm/ha.

Updated on : Dec 2014